At least five prisoners sentenced to death on drug-related charges have been transferred to solitary confinement in Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj, Alborz Province, in preparation for their executions.

The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that prisoners Seyyed Iman Heydari from Tehran, Ayoub Asadi from Harsin in Kermanshah Province, Vahid Teymouri, Hamed Nazariani and Amir Nazariani from Kuhdasht in Lorestan Province were transferred from Unit 2 to the prison’s solitary confinement cells the at around midday on 13 July.

Following the transfers, hundreds of prisoners held in Unit 2 launched a hunger strike in protest.